For Mars Mixon and Kyle Walsh, it started when they were working as counselors, using entertainment as a bridge to at-risk youth. Now they have their own theater, which offers comedy, music, poetry and other forms of expressive entertainment.
Mixon’s background is music, while Walsh is into theater –and the two eventually decided to break out of what Walsh labels as “bureaucratic connections” for the sake of artistic freedom.
“[We] decided to work together and find at least a starting point where we could just have a space or a venue to kind of explore our own thing,” says Walsh, 26.
Along with partner Teresa Vazquez, Mixon and Walsh developed the Idiot Box, a full-purpose, 100-seat space located at 1937 S. Halsted St. that has primarily been used for sketch comedy and stand-up.
“Comedy is a better way” to entertain, says Mixon, 30. “I really have no interest [in drama]; comedy has been my way of life.”
Adds Walsh: “The main body of what we do is sketch comedy, a la Second City or some of the trademark Chicago venues. And then [we’ll] build around that some other themes, like maybe pick up a little bit where [stand-up comedy club] All Jokes Aside left off.
Walsh obviously is more in tune with the theatrical aspects of the Idiot Box. A theater major out of Marquette University, the Milwaukee native has been performing for about three years.
Walsh is interested in exploring “some of my images of what I want to do with sketch comedy onstage. It’s a way to free myself of the bonds of having somebody else’s artistic views kind of infiltrate what I want to do.”
One of Mixon’s goals, aside from providing live jazz and hip-hop music to patrons of the Idiot Box (the Jamaican-born Mixon plays a variety of wind instruments) is to create a space for his friend to perform his kind of humor.
“I would like to see [the Idiot Box] go as far as [Walsh] would like to go with it,” Mixon says. “For me it’s more an investment, of everything from financial down to emotional, when it comes to my best friend succeeding.”
The Idiot Box is currently presenting Salsation, Chicago’s first all-Latino improv/sketch comedy group, with members coming out of the Second City touring company and other sketch groups. Shows are scheduled for 10:30 p.m. Saturdays through March 11. For this, and other information about the Idiot Box, call 312-719-6851.
Raging Reno
Reno, the one-namedcomic performance artist, is making a special appearance in Chicago on Saturday.
The dynamic, outrageous comedian’s brand of cutting-edge humor has been hailed by such newspapers as the New York Times (“Gives new meaning to [the term] `fast-paced’ “) and the Miami Herald (“She’ll say what the rest of us might not let ourselves think”).
Reno is scheduled to perform pieces from her latest one-woman show, “Reno Finds Her Mind,” as part of the Discovery Board of the Goodman Theatre’s annual benefit, which is called “Cutting Edge Chicago” — appropriate, considering the talent slated for the evening.
The event will be held at the Chicago Production Center of WTTW-Ch. 11, 5400 N. St. Louis Ave., starting at 7 p.m. Saturday. Reno does her stream-of-consciousness comedy at 9 p.m. For tickets and more information, call 312-435-2778.
The stand-up lineup
Here’s who’s working comedy. Current sets are scheduled to run through Saturday; new acts begin Thursday unless otherwise noted. Lineups are subject to change.
Mitch Hedberg — whose most recent comedy CD, “Strategic Grill Locations,” was recorded during a single live performance, rather than (as is more usual) being pieced together from several different shows — swings through Zanies this weekend (1548 N. Wells St.; 312-337-4027).
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The Paramount Arts Centre in Aurora presents the comedy and music of Tom and Dick Smothers on Friday. Call 630-896-6666 or Ticketmaster at 312-559-1212 for more information.
Bruce “Baby Man” Baum makes special appearances Friday and Saturday at Comedy Comedy, 3000 Warrenville Rd. in the Radisson Hotel Lisle-Naperville in Lisle. For show times and reservations, call 630-226-9700. And Comedy Comedy’s relationship with the Best Western/Midway Hotel, 1600 Oakton St., Elk Grove Village, has been extended through March, with Steve Moris handling hosting duties. Call Comedy Comedy for details about those shows.
We can only assume that “Bang Bang,” the label used for comedy shows at No Exit Caf, doesn’t mean World Wrestling Federation star Mick “Cactus Jack” Foley, whose uses “bang bang!” as his catchphrase, has taken up a new profession. Shows are held at 9 p.m. each Wednesday at 6970 N. Glenwood Ave. Call 773-465-8005 for other details.
“Miss Pageant” is the latest bit of foolery from Corn Productions taking place Thursdays and Fridays through April 8 at the Cornservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln Ave. (call 312-409-6435). The premise? A twisted sendup of beauty contests with such contestants as Miss Underworld, Miss Domineering Mother, Miss Naivete . . . you get the idea.